Useful Bible Studies > 1 Corinthians Commentary > chapter 9
Paul worked hard to bring people into a right relationship with God. He did not want to offend anyone, unless God’s message itself offended that person.
Paul often worked among people who were not Jews. In other words, unlike Paul, those people did not belong to the nation that received God’s law by means of Moses. Other Jews separated themselves from people who were not Jews.
But Paul did not do that. He respected everyone, whether they knew God’s law or not. He wanted everyone to invite God into their lives.
Paul was anxious not to cause any unnecessary difficulty for the person who trusted Christ. Such a person should not try to follow the laws that the Jews followed. Paul persuaded the other Christian leaders that this is correct (Galatians chapter 2).
The Jews accepted Paul as a Jew (9:20). And people from other nations which did not know God’s law, accepted Paul too. He worked among them as if he were one of them. But Paul never forgot his duties to God. He always remembered that he must obey Christ. And Christ’s law was that he must love other people (Galatians 6:2; John 15:12).
That was why Paul acted in this manner. He wanted to show God’s love to people who were not Jews. In the same manner, he followed the law in order to show God’s love to the Jews. His constant desire was that God would save people.
Next part: How Paul dealt with people’s weakness (1 Corinthians 9:22-23)
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© 2014, Keith Simons.